Batgirls Like Bad Boys
by beeftony
Summary: Stephanie Brown goes out for groceries, but ends up going home with more than she bargained for.
1. Chapter 1

Stephanie Brown was accustomed to running errands for her mother. Back in the early days of her oh-so-happy childhood, her mother had been too busy fending off Steph's _loving_ father and taking happy pills to make the pain go away to bother with things like groceries. She had learned what a PIN number was at age six, and shopping lists were among her earliest writing assignments. She had taken every opportunity to get out of the house.

Over the past year, however, her mother had been playing the role of the responsible parent, which was why it struck Stephanie as odd that she sent her out on a milk run. Or it would have, if Crystal Brown had not just worked a 24 hour shift at West Mercy hospital following one of Joker's nastier attacks on the city and its people. Her mother was exhausted, and she was happy to help. It was what she did, after all.

The clouds above her looked ready to burst into tears at any minute, and the forecast had said that Gotham was due for heavy rain tonight. The Compact was parked back at Firewall, and she had just started walking back home when her mother called and asked her to pick up groceries on the way. In between her hideout and the Brown residence was a particularly bad stretch of town known as Park Row. Currently she was only a few blocks from Crime Alley, the place where Batman had been born.

Being out at night in this part of town was usually a bad idea in Gotham, but she could handle herself in or out of costume. That was also what she did.

She strode up the nearly abandoned sidewalk to the neighborhood market, when the trained eye that Bruce had helped her develop noticed a woman disappear into an alley way too quickly to have simply ducked into it on her own. She sighed. '_Here we go_...'

She passed close enough to the doors that they opened in anticipation of her, but she walked past them and over to the alley, where she peeked around the corner and discovered that all was not right.

"Hey, baby," one of society's rattier members sneered as he pressed her up against the wall of the alley, flanked by half a dozen other street punks. "I think you know what's about to happen, so don't scream and this'll all be over quick."

Stephanie ducked back and glared at the opposite side of the street. Sexual violence was a particularly touchy subject for her, and even though her experience had not happened in an alley, she could not abide this. Groceries could wait.

'_And of course you _had_ to leave your batsuit at the dry cleaners, didn't you, Steph?_'

Actually it was still at Firewall, but it might as well have been in Timbuktu for how unavailable the disguise was right now. And she'd _just_ finished a five hour patrol, too.

'_Okay, think_,' she narrated internally as she peered back around the corner. The woman was sobbing hysterically, unable to control herself. She had yet to cry out for help, though, which meant she was willing to follow instructions from an armed man. That had never been Stephanie's style, but it seemed to be keeping the woman alive, so who was she to judge?

'_There's too many to sneak up behind him and give him a whack on the head_,' she told herself. '_And most of them are armed, which means if I go charging in they'll all have time to get a bead on me_.' She sighed. This was going to require some improvisation.

Fortunately, that was another thing Stephanie Brown did well.

"Open your mouth," the leader ordered as he unzipped his pants. "And don't bite down or I'll make sure and kill you slowly."

"Hey!" she shouted, too angry to think of a clever witticism. Seven pairs of eyes turned around to face her.

She might have gotten more of a reaction if she'd been wearing a bat across her chest, but it got their attention off the other woman at least, so she considered that a success.

"This neighborhood's not a good place to be on a school night, baby doll," the thug mocked. "Why don't you run along home now? This ain't none of your business."

"It never is," she muttered, then more loudly: "I'm making it my business. Let her go."

He grinned smugly. "Or what?"

"Or nothing," she replied, cocking her hips. "Let her go... and you can have _me_ instead."

That got her the reaction she was looking for, which was several flabbergasted expressions on the gang's faces. "You serious?"

"Oh, come on," she replied in a more sultry voice, pouting and sticking a finger on her lower lip. "This woman's just street trash. Wouldn't you rather have a good, wholesome college student? I won't tell anybody... I promise."

'_Laying it on a _little_ thick there, Stephanie_,' she chastised herself. She had to try very hard to disguise the fact that this whole plan made her want to throw up and curl into a ball. But she would never have become Batgirl if she had not possessed the strength to put her own fears aside for the sake of appearing brave in front of others, and right now everything depended on keeping up the act long enough to get in close.

After a moment of consideration, the gang leader nodded. "You," he ordered, turning around, "beat it." The woman was only too happy to run out of there, high heels and all. He turned his gaze back to her. "Get over here."

She obeyed, walking with a feigned nervousness and keeping her knees close together. The gang members encircled her, just like she wanted them to. She spied the leader's lecherous grin when he lifted up a corner of her shirt...

...then watched it twist into a grimace of pain when, in one smooth motion, she grabbed his index and middle finger and turned around, pulling back on them until they bent back further than nature intended, bringing the thug to his knees. She snap-kicked his chin, leaving him sprawled on the ground.

"Augh, you _bitch_!" he shouted. "Get her!" he ordered.

She turned back around to face the other gang members and grinned like the devil, pressing a fist into her palm and cracking her knuckles. They hesitated for a moment, not having expected such competent resistance from somebody who looked like her. Then they all charged at once.

Stephanie was ready for them. She grabbed one of the thugs by the shoulders and flipped over him in a maneuver she had learned by studying Dick, driving her feet into his back. He toppled over into the lead thug, who was just getting up.

The others began pulling out weapons. A pipe. A nightstick, most likely stolen off a dead cop. One had a chain, and the other pulled out a knife. The fifth one had a gun, so she went after him first, breaking his wrist before he had even registered what happened. She kicked the gun to the other side of the alley, then tripped him and sent him to the ground.

Ducking under a swing from the pipe, she sidestepped the chain and intercepted the nightstick-wielding thug at the wrist, twisting it and then whacking him in the knee with his own weapon. Knife-guy started swiping at her, so she had to take a short leap back. She struck out with the nightstick, fracturing his elbow and causing him to drop the knife, then finished him off with a well-aimed kick to the sternum.

Only the pipe-man and the chain wielder were left, and their weapons were tangled together after simultaneous swipes, which she ducked under. A blow from the nightstick to each of their legs stunned them both, and she dropped them with two kicks to the face.

'_Well_,' she thought, satisfied, '_That takes care of_—'

_Bang!_

She turned around and saw the leader pointing a gun at her with the hand she had not mangled. She looked herself over for any bullet holes, but could not find any. Also, there did not appear to be smoke emanating from the gun. Her questions were answered a second later when the scumbag toppled over, dead.

"You need to pay more attention to your surroundings," a voice said from above. She looked up and saw a dark figure drop into the alleyway. One that was not wearing a cape, but a black leather jacket and a...

Red Hood. Jason Todd. She had heard enough about him that her clutch on the nightstick tightened for a moment.

She debated what to do with this unexpected development. All she really knew about Jason Todd was that he had been the Robin after Dick, and he had died tragically after being beaten within an inch of his life, only to come back later. '_Doesn't _that_ sound familiar_?' a part of her chimed in, and she cringed, not wanting to think about Black Mask or Africa right now. She knew that he had rejected Bruce's no-killing philosophy and made a habit of gunning down street crooks, as he had just demonstrated. He was a stone-cold murderer, and she had no idea what he could want with her.

Then again, he _had_ just saved her life, so she figured she should at least hear him out.

"How much of that did you see?" she asked him.

"All of it," he replied, and she could _hear_ the smirk in his voice. "Nice work... Batgirl."

She could not stop herself from reacting to the fact that he had figured out who she was so quickly. Then again, like her, he had been trained by the World's Greatest Detective.

And what really surprised her was that even though he knew that, he did not react like all the other members of their little Bat family would have. Bruce would have scowled disapprovingly and lectured her about risking her secret identity, Dick would be a little more gentle but his concerns would be the same, Tim would freak out over her using herself as bait to beat up an attempted rapist, and Damian would have followed up with a remark about how this proved she was a whore.

But Jason Todd, the bad seed, the black sheep of the family... congratulated her? She did not know whether to be flattered or worried.

She put a hand on her hip. "What makes you think I'm Batgirl?"

"Well first of all..." He gestured to the unconscious and dead thugs filling the alley. "And your first question wasn't to ask me who I was, which means you already knew."

"Okay fine, you got me," she muttered, crossing her arms. "What are you doing here?"

"I've been trying to get this guy for weeks," Jason responded, gesturing with his still smoking pistol to the dead would-be rapist. "Whatever you might have heard about me, I _really_ don't like it when this sort of stuff happens to women."

"That makes two of us."

"So what brings you to the neighborhood?" he inquired, tucking the pistol into a holster under his jacket.

"Grocery shopping," she answered, cleaning the handle of the night stick with her shirt. No sense connecting herself to the crime scene. "I was just about to go into this market when I came across these punks."

The red helmet opened with a hiss, and he took it off, revealing a man who looked shockingly similar to Dick, only with a white streak running through otherwise black hair. He tossed it up on the rooftop, out of sight. "You mind if I join you?" he asked, smiling. "I need to pick up some bread anyway."

* * *

"So really, how _did _you know I was Batgirl?" Steph questioned as they entered the deserted grocery store, grabbing a cart. Jason strolled beside her with his hands in his jacket pockets. "You're not exactly on speaking terms with the rest of us Bats."

"Neither are you," he rebutted, and she had her answer.

"Aha!" she accused, pointing at him. "You've been spying on me."

He wrinkled his nose. "More like keeping tabs. And if it makes you feel any better, it wasn't just you I've been keeping an eye on."

"It doesn't, but I'll let that slide since Bruce spies on all of us." They turned down the baking aisle, and Stephanie immediately procured three bags of waffle mix. "Were you following me tonight?"

He shook his head. "I told you, I've been after Jerry Travers for weeks now. He was a wanted serial rapist who preferred to share his spoils with his gang. They're a bunch of misogynist crapsacks who deserved way worse than what you gave 'em."

The passion in that statement gave Stephanie pause. From what she'd heard, mostly from Tim, Jason Todd was a gun-toting son of a bitch who killed people. But to hear him tell it, he sounded almost justified. Only her own code kept her from fully agreeing with him.

"And yet you still think I did a nice job," she responded a few moments later.

He shrugged, then deposited two loaves of bread into the cart. "You used an angle that I wouldn't have thought of, much less been able to implement. You got them to let their guard down, and you wiped the floor with them. That was really nice work."

"Um, thanks," she replied, and meant it. "The rest of the Batfam wouldn't have been that understanding." They were passing the fridges at the back of the store, and she grabbed a gallon of milk as well as a dozen eggs. "I'm pretty sure _Tim_ would have thrown a fit."

"That's right, you used to date Tim," he mentioned, as if he had just remembered it. "And yeah, you don't have to tell me about being looked down on for extreme methods. Even when I was Robin Bruce was always getting on my case."

"Something else we have in common," she remarked, grabbing a ten-pack of yogurt. "Actually my very brief tenure as Robin ended just like yours."

He gave her a surprisingly sympathetic look. "Joker?"

"Black Mask," she corrected, shaking her head.

"That dumbass? I stole Kryptonite from him once just to fuck with him."

"He's not so much of a dumbass when he tortures you for days on end," she replied, trying not to trigger a flashback. "From what I've gleaned that was right before you came back."

His features were now set in a glare. "Next chance I get I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch."

"Not that I want you to, but why?" she inquired, suddenly worried about the lecture she would receive from Bruce if she inspired another of Red Hood's killing sprees.

"Because the fact that Joker's still alive should tell you that Batman never avenges us when it really counts," he answered, deadly serious.

"Is that why you're so angry with him?"

"Among other reasons, yes," he replied.

"Well, as much as I appreciate the sentiment, I think Catwoman already beat you to it."

"Oh yeah, I forgot," he said. "I was kinda out of it during that whole Black Lanterns deal since..." He did not have to finish. They were nearing the sandwich meats, and he grabbed several packages of ham as well as some sliced cheese. "I'm sure Bruce hasn't told you very much about me."

"Actually Barbara filled me in on most of it," she explained. "And I saw you on the news when you were running around with that Scarlet chick. That outfit looked ridiculous, by the way."

"S'why I went back to the classic," he answered, gesturing with his hands still in his jacket pockets.

She nodded. "I like it. Has a real biker feel."

He smirked.

They passed the rest of the shopping trip in relative silence, picking out various foods. When they got to the register she started to pull out her wallet, but Jason stopped her. "I got this."

"You sure? Because if you don't think I can pay, I'll have you know I've been saving up my allowance all week."

He quirked an eyebrow. "I highly doubt you get an allowance."

"Okay, so it's scholarship money that probably should have gone towards books but I'm really good about budgeting it, I swear."

"I said I've got it," he repeated, handing a wad of bills to the cashier. With his reputation a credit card would likely have been a liability.

Jason finished bagging the groceries and gathered them in his arms. They stepped out of the store and into the torrential rain that had just decided to start pouring.

"Aw, man!" Stephanie complained as her hair got soaked and started to cling to her face. "Now I have to walk home in this."

"My place isn't far from here," he offered, gesturing with his head. "Wanna wait out the storm there?"

She raised an eyebrow. "As fascinating as it's been interacting with you for the first time, I _am_ trying to stay on the rest of the family's good side. I don't think going home with you would improve my already spotty reputation."

"What they don't know won't hurt 'em," he insisted. "Besides, I'm holding your groceries."

"Point," she admitted, raising a finger. She sighed. "Okay, fine. Let's just get going before I change my mind."

"Atta' girl," he said with a smile that was a little too wide for her tastes.


	2. Chapter 2

"Well, here we are," Jason announced as he skillfully unlocked the door while still holding two armfuls of groceries. He opened the door with a kick. "Home sweet home."

Stephanie surveyed the rat hole of an apartment in front of her. It was small and dingy, with hardwood floors that had not been waxed since the beginning of time, ugly wallpaper that had surpassed simply peeling and seemed to be in the process of molting, and a single lamp that thankfully did not flicker—much.

"Eh, I've stayed in worse," she decided aloud with a shrug. "Matter of fact I've _lived_ in worse."

"So glad you approve," he deadpanned, depositing the groceries on the kitchen counter and opening the fridge. He put her groceries in first, bags and all, then started to organize his own. "Come in."

It was then she realized that she had been standing at the door for the last minute. "Right," she said, entering the apartment and closing the door behind her. "You need any help with those?"

"Almost done," he insisted, placing the bread on top of the refrigerator. When that was finished, he walked over towards what she assumed was the bedroom. "Don't sit down yet," he advised, and she obeyed. He reappeared a moment later holding a large tee-shirt. "Sorry, this is the only clean one I've got."

It took her a minute to grasp his meaning. "Wait, you expect me to wear that?"

"Unless you wanna hang out naked while we get those clothes dry, which is fine by me," he replied with a smirk.

She fixed him with a glare and crossed her arms, only to suddenly become aware of how drenched her clothes were. "What if I just want to keep wearing these until they dry?"

Jason rolled his eyes. "You're shivering."

Looking down, she realized that she had in fact been shaking from the cold this whole time. Still, she was not going to give in that easily. "The last time I wore a guy's shirt I ended up getting pregnant," she replied with a smirk of her own.

That at least garnered a look of surprise from Jason. "When did this happen?"

"Three years ago," she answered matter-of-factly.

"You couldn't have been more than fifteen," he realized.

She chuckled somewhat more darkly than usual. "Yeah, well, you're not the only problem child in the Bat family." She looked away. "I made a lot of mistakes when I was younger. But I'm making up for them now."

"Look, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not gonna take advantage of you," he promised. "I respect a woman's right to say no, as you may have gathered from what happened earlier."

"Okay, fine, gimme that," she sighed, snatching it from his hands. "Bathroom?" He gestured down the hall. "Thanks."

While Steph was changing, Jason took a moment to reflect on the strange turn this evening had taken. He had not known much about Stephanie Brown, since he had been dead/travelling the world for most of the time that she had been around the rest of the Bats, and she had "died" just before his own return. He had gone to a very dark place when Bruce died, so he had not made time to observe the rest of the family, aside from Dick and the brat wonder. He had gotten himself back under control recently, and had come back to Gotham to resume his mission of wiping out criminals.

But he had never expected to run into Batgirl, and especially not like this. She was so different from the girl he had pictured in his mind; so unlike what he had expected. The other members of their little family tended to stay away from him, but she seemed completely unafraid. Quite frankly, she fascinated him.

She exited the bathroom a minute later wearing only his tee-shirt and holding a pile of wet laundry, and he almost regretted promising not to bed her. She was quite a bit smaller than him, so the shirt hung down to about mid-thigh, and he could tell that she had removed her bra and panties, which was very intriguing to certain parts of him. But she had earned his respect, so he resolved to keep his promise. Not many women had the bravery to intentionally put themselves in harm's way like that, especially _that_ kind of harm. He imagined that he was one of the few who saw it that way, though, so he had gone out of his way to let her know that she had impressed him.

"What's wrong?" he asked as soon as he noticed that her face was scrunched up like she had just eaten fifty lemons.

"You have _roaches_ in your bathroom."

He chuckled. "Oh, those guys. You know, I wouldn't mind 'em so much if they actually paid rent. I'll get a can of bug spray later." The disgusted expression faded somewhat. "You hate bugs or something?"

Steph shook her head as she walked further away from the bathroom. "I can deal with pests, it's just... they were crawling out of the _sink_." She shuddered.

Jason held out his arms and she handed over her laundry. He walked over to the small laundry closet, and she followed.

"Roaches get a bad rep," he averred, placing the clothes in the washer/dryer and setting the dial. As soon as they were running he shut the door behind him. "A lot of people think they're dirty, but they actually clean themselves more meticulously than cats. The only way they'd really bring filth into your house is if they walked across an open sewer first."

"Or crawled up a water pipe," she remarked, sitting down on the couch.

He shrugged. "Whatever. Roaches evolved to live around the nests of large mammals. They're supposed to eat our trash and we're supposed to eat the ones that are too slow to get away, but people don't like functioning the way evolution designed us to," he continued. "They used to be a necessary part of our ecosystem, but now society treats them like pests." He shook his head. "Plus, no matter how hard you try you just can't kill the bastards."

"You realize you just basically described yourself," Steph quipped, and he glared at her.

"Did you just call me a cockroach?"

The blonde shook her head. "Nope, you did."

Jason shrugged. She had him there. "I'm gonna go change," he muttered, disappearing into the bedroom.

When he emerged a couple minutes later, he was wearing flannel pajama pants and nothing else. '_So _that's _what it feels like to have your eyes bug out of your head_,' she reflected as she struggled to regain her composure.

For all of Tim's attractive qualities, he had always been... skinnier than the rest of the men in the Bat family. While she found him cute anyway, the sight of Jason Todd with his shirt off was exciting her for reasons she had not known existed before. Out of all of them, he possessed the figure necessary to actually fit in Bruce's costume without having to use a ton of padding. He had to be at least two hundred thirty pounds of pure muscle, as opposed to her measly one hundred forty. Between those arms and that chest and those _abs_... well, she regretted comparing him to a cockroach.

He noticed her gawking and smirked, and she quickly reconstructed her poker face.

"Don't you have any more shirts?" she asked after a few moments.

"You're wearing it," he answered with a shrug. "All the others have blood on 'em."

"So between the two of us we have a complete outfit," she wisecracked, provoking a laugh from Jason as he sat down next to her. "Where'd you hear that thing about cockroaches anyway?

He gestured to the television in front of them. "I get cable, and sometimes I watch the Discovery Channel," he informed her. "And you were right. I was sort of describing myself." He frowned. "When other animals hunt each other, people understand it's necessary because they're thinning out the herd and preventing overpopulation. But when people like me start exterminating the vermin then suddenly it's a crime."

Steph eyed him quizzically. "You sound like R'as Al Ghul."

"I may have spent a little time with his daughter," he explained with a smirk. "She let me use one of his Lazarus Pits. It's how I got this." He gestured to the shock of white hair.

"Is that how you came back to life?" she inquired.

"No, but it's how I fully recovered," he clarified. "That's also why I bought the groceries tonight. She gave me quite a bit of money when I left."

"And yet there are cockroaches in your _sink_," she pointed out.

"I like to be close to where the action is, and this place is good for keeping a low profile," he explained, putting his hands behind his head and affording her a mouth-watering view of his muscles in action. "And I didn't have a home growing up. My parents died when I was young and I grew up on the streets. Just having a roof over my head is enough."

"I think I heard about that," she replied once she swallowed the drool that was building up the more she stared at him. "Did you _really_ steal the tires off the Batmobile?"

He chuckled.

"Sorry to hear about your parents," she added. "That seems to be a running theme in our little family."

Jason shrugged. "I don't really remember 'em all that well. It's probably better that I don't."

"You can say that again," she replied, pulling on the bottom of the shirt when she noticed it was only a few inches away from revealing everything. "At least you didn't have _my_ dad."

"Your dad was Cluemaster, right?" She nodded. "That sucks."

"Yeah, he wasn't exactly fun to have around," she muttered, tucking her legs inside the shirt. "That's why I became Spoiler. To spoil his crimes." She glanced at him and smiled. "Kind of a lame name, I'll admit."

"Hey, bad puns come with the territory," he remarked. "And you're not the only one with bad parents. My birth mother sold me out to the Joker."

Her eyes got wide. "Right before he...?"

Jason nodded. "He beat me half to death with a crowbar and left us both in a warehouse with a bomb to finish the job." He scowled in the television's general direction. "Batman didn't get there in time."

"And you blame him for that?"

He shook his head. "I forgave him for that a long time ago. It wasn't his fault."

"But you still think he should have killed Joker?"

"Yeah."

She nodded sympathetically. "I'll admit I was kinda sore at first that he didn't make Black Mask pay for what he did," she responded. "But Alfred explained to me that Bruce's whole idea of Crime is based on his parents' murder. Killing is what he's devoted his whole life to fighting against. It's not just a line he won't cross, it's one he _can't_ cross and still be Batman."

"I'm not talking about killing Penguin or Two-Face," he rebutted, getting a little agitated. "Just Joker. You can't tell me the world wouldn't be better off without him."

"I agree with you there," she admitted. "But Bruce will never see it that way. So you either accept that or you'll just keep being angry at him forever."

He huffed and said nothing else for a while.

_All the single ladies_

_All the single ladies_

The sound of Beyoncé split the apartment, and Steph scrambled forward to grab her phone, accidentally exposing herself in the process. Jason looked away quickly out of respect, but could not help catching a just a little bit, and what he saw was enough to induce a slight quiver.

"Hi Mom!" she greeted with a combination of cheer and nervousness. "What's up?"

"_Stephanie Alice Brown_."

Uh-oh. Full name. Not good.

"Yes, dearest Mother?" she replied in the sweetest of tones.

"Curfew was twenty minutes ago, young lady."

"Yeah, about that..." she explained. "I'm waiting out the storm at a... friend's house. I might just end up spending the night."

Jason's eyes widened at that bit of news.

Crystal did not sound amused. "Stephanie, you have classes in the morning."

"Not till eleven!" she protested. "That's plenty of time to get back home with the groceries."

She heard her mother sigh on the other end of the phone. "Alright. Just call ahead next time, okay?"

"You got it, Mom," she answered. "Talktoyousoonbye." She glanced over at Jason to see that he had raised both eyebrows and was staring at her questioningly. "What?"

"I wasn't aware you wanted to make this a slumber party."

She set the phone back down on the coffee table and put a hand over her forehead. "I don't know why I said that," she admitted with a sigh. "But I've already told her that so I can't go back home tonight."

"Well, if you really wanna stay here, you can take the bed. I'll sleep out here."

"Uh, thanks," she replied. "You wanna stay up and talk some more?"

He gave her a very serious look. "Believe me, if we keep going down this road, it's not going to take you anywhere you'll like. Besides, you've got class in the morning."

"Okay," she said, getting up and walking over to the bedroom. "Goodnight."

"G'night," he echoed before lying down on the couch and turning on the TV.

* * *

Roughly thirty minutes later, Stephanie came to the conclusion that she would not be able to sleep.

The bed was comfortable enough. Sure, it looked and smelled like Jason had dragged it out of a dumpster, but she had slept on worse. The walls were thick enough that the noise from the television was not too loud. And heaven knew that after all those late nights, she deserved some rest. But her internal clock was screwed up enough that her body would not allow her to slip into unconsciousness until at least four in the morning, and it was only half past eleven according to the alarm clock.

'_Screw this_,' she decided, and ventured back out into the living room to find that Jason was wide awake as well.

"Something wrong?"

Steph shook her head. "Can't sleep."

The look he sent her way told her that he understood exactly why. "Me either."

She made for the couch, and he sat up to allow her to sit down next to him. "What are we watching?"

"News," he answered, gesturing with the remote. "Waiting for them to report on what happened earlier."

Steph tucked her hands in her lap to keep the shirt from riding up. She glanced over at him and stared until he responded.

"What's up?"

"Okay, I know you said I wouldn't like where this would end up, but there's something I have to ask you."

He waited for her to continue.

"You kill people," she stated plainly, and he offered no objections. "And I'm sure you have your reasons for it, it's just... I've had it drilled into my head by Batman that killing is wrong and we should always show mercy to our enemies because that's what makes us better than them."

Jason scoffed at the notion.

"And yet here I am in your apartment, wearing your shirt, sitting on your couch, not worrying about the dead body you left in that alley," she continued. "Part of what I've been trying to do as Batgirl is see the good in people, so I guess I'm just giving you the benefit of the doubt here. And you _did_ save my life, so I don't really have anything to hold against you."

She frowned and stared at the floor. "But I can't sleep in your bed without knowing why it is you decided to abandon everything Batman ever taught you."

He was silent for a few moments. "Have you ever heard of a man named Felipe Garzonas?"

Stephanie shook her head.

"He was a serial rapist whose father had diplomatic immunity, so he couldn't be arrested on U.S. soil," he began, leaning back into the couch. "There was a girl named Gloria who hung herself after he had already raped her twice. Batman and I went after him, and I got there first." His features turned dark. "He fell to his death from twenty two stories up."

"Did he really fall?" she questioned. "Or did you push him?"

"Batman asked me the same thing," he answered, closing his eyes. "And to this day I just... don't know. I was so blind with rage that one second he was backing up, and the next thing I know Batman was asking me why he took a dive on the pavement."

She said nothing.

"That was the day I learned that some people just deserve to die," he continued, staring at the TV. "There are some things that can't be excused, and violating another person like that is one of them." His face was calm, but the slight choke in his voice betrayed the emotions behind his words.

"But you've killed people for a lot less than that," she pointed out, and he shrugged.

"I only kill the people who deserve it," he justified. "I don't lay a finger on the innocent, and everybody I do kill has it coming."

"And who made you Judge, Jury and Executioner?"

"Whoever brought me back from the dead, I guess," he answered. "I shouldn't be alive right now. I wouldn't have been brought back if it wasn't for a purpose. And I really think this is it."

Stephanie sighed. "I'm beginning to see why the rest of the family never associates with you."

"If you wanna leave, there's the door," he snapped.

"_But_," she added, raising a finger. "I get kept out of the loop a lot because they don't think I can cut it either. Do you know what any of them would have said to me if they were the ones who saw me in that alley?"

"What?"

"Bruce and Dick would have lectured me, Tim would get overprotective, and Damian would find some excuse to call me a harlot or something equally pretentious and rude."

Jason chuckled.

"But you... complimented me," she continued. "You told me I did a nice job. And I appreciated that." She smiled.

"You're welcome."

"And to be perfectly honest? If I could have killed my father when I was younger, I would have done it," she admitted. "That pathetic excuse for a man took out his frustration at Batman on me and my mother, and I didn't feel like he deserved to live." She set her features in a glare.

"I've... moved past that anger somewhat in the last few years," she continued, softening her countenance somewhat. "But some nights I just lie awake and think about how I'd like to make him pay for everything he's done." She chuckled darkly. "Then I remember he's already rotting in prison. He caused all the trouble I've been through this last semester, you know."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, he hired a bunch of college kids in super-suits to rob Federal Reserve banks, but it was just a ploy to get my attention," she elaborated. "When I finally saw him face to face, he dosed me with ground up Black Mercy and almost escaped before I hit him with a gooperang."

Jason's eyes grew wide. "Black Mercy? Shit. I saw firsthand what that stuff did to Superman back when I was still Robin. How'd you survive?"

"Dr. Mid-Nite recommended a blood transfusion to clear it out of my system, and my Mom happened to be working that night," she explained. "But I got to live out some pretty cool fantasies while it lasted."

"I'll bet."

"And you know what? Not one of those fantasies involved killing my father," she finished. "So I know that I don't really have that in me. But I'm not going to judge you if that's the path you want to follow. I get judged enough for _my_ decisions."

He smirked. "Well I appreciate that."

"Don't think I'm gonna be your partner or anything," she warned. "I've got my own operation."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he replied, leaning back into the couch with his arms crossed over his chest.

They watched the news together in comfortable silence, having told each other everything that needed to be said.

* * *

Jason did not know how it happened, but at some point over the last two hours, Stephanie had rested her head on his shoulder. She had then moved an arm over his torso and pulled herself in, and before he knew what he was doing his arm was wrapped around her, holding her close.

And that was how he ended up snuggling for the first time in his life.

Part of him wanted to cough suggestively and push her away, but the blonde was too damn adorable for him to ruin the moment. In the dim light of the television he could see that her eyes were closed and she wore an almost imperceptible smile on her face. He stopped short of running his fingers through her hair, because he doubted he possessed the self control not to follow where that path would lead.

He had never considered himself to have a type, but after bedding the imperious Talia Al Ghul, he had never expected himself to be as attracted to Stephanie Brown as he was in that moment. After all, she had dated Tim, the replacement. Hell, she _was_ one of the replacements. She was reckless, she had no class, and he had heard her fart at least three times tonight.

In other words, she had a lot more in common with him than he had first realized.

And looking at her now, he again regretted making a promise not to sleep with her. Though technically it was only a promise not to take advantage, Jason could not imagine her giving consent and he was not the kind of person to ignore a detail like that. Whatever else others may have thought of him, Jason Todd respected women. Especially women as beautiful and surprising as Stephanie Brown.

So he resolved to simply let her cuddle with him as long as she needed. It was just intimate enough that it did not have to mean anything when she woke up. And she looked almost like an angel.

An angel who was snoring and drooling on his belly.

"Alright, Sleeping Beauty, let's get you to bed," he chuckled, sliding smoothly out of her grasp without waking her and scooping her moderately-sized frame into his arms. She felt heavier than she looked, but muscle weighed more than fat and she tended to defy all appearances. She felt _solid_, and it occurred to him that she might like it rough. She was definitely built for it.

He took that thought and pushed it down deep, where the sexual frustration was mounting like water behind a floodgate. He might have to relieve the pressure on his own later, when she was far, far away from his apartment. He could be patient if he tried. He had waited for years to get his revenge on Joker, even longer for Batman.

So why was he getting so worked up over a woman he had just met that night?

He decided not to dwell on it and carried her into the bedroom, setting her down on the mattress and pulling the covers over her. He could deal with sexual tension. He could learn to love her like the little sister he never had. Hell, they were practically family already. Before he left, he could not resist leaning down and planting a soft kiss on her forehead.

Before he knew what was happening, her arms were pulling him back down towards her, and her lips met his in a very sloppy manner that told him she was operating mostly on half-sleepy instinct. A surprised "Mmph!" crashed against her lips, and in that moment Stephanie's eyes snapped open.

"Mmrft!" she groaned in shock, letting him go. He stood up rapidly and stumbled back, smashing his head against the wall and sliding down to the floor.

"Ow!"

"Sorrysorrysorry! she babbled, sitting up quickly. "Are you alright?"

Okay, that was decidedly _not_ sisterly behavior.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he insisted, rubbing his head as he stood back up. "What the hell was _that_?"

Her cheeks turned the deepest scarlet. "That," she began nervously, "was my body getting ahead of my brain. Sorry."

"I... I'm gonna go," he decided, turning to leave. He did _not _want to go any further down this road or he feared he would not be able to come back.

"No wait, stay!" she blurted out, and he turned back to face her with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, please don't go. I don't want you to leave with everything all weird between us."

He shook his head. "Just pretend that didn't happen."

"That's gonna be a little difficult."

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, no kidding," he agreed. The thought would probably occupy him for the rest of the night at least. He shook his head. "I made a promise not to take advantage of you," he said a moment later. "I plan on keeping it."

"Hey, I'm the one who kissed you," she pointed out with a smirk. "And all I'm asking is for you to stay here and help me figure out what it means."

He sighed. "What it _means_," he told her, leaning against the door frame, "is that you were half asleep, and you probably thought I was Tim, and you shouldn't trust what happens when you're not fully awake. If I were to go along with this that would mean taking advantage of you."

"Oh, I definitely knew it was you," she corrected. "I've been ogling your abs all night."

He had not been expecting that. He blinked. "Okay, if we're being completely honest, I wanted to run my fingers through your hair earlier," he confessed. "And that shirt makes you look way hotter than I thought it would."

"Okay, so we've established that there's physical attraction at least," she replied with a smile. "And we get along well enough. What's stopping you from taking me right now?"

"What I've already told you," he answered, crossing his arms over his chest. "You kissed me while you were half-asleep. And I don't want to go through with something we'll both regret later."

"So kiss me again," she rebutted, standing up and advancing towards him. "I'm wide awake now." They were only inches apart, and she ran the back of her knuckles along the front of his torso, stopping just below the navel. "And let me decide for myself if I'm going to regret this later."

Well, if she wanted it so bad...

He grabbed the sides of her head and pulled her into the kiss he had been wanting to give her for the last hour, pouring all of his pent up passion into it. He could tell that she was doing the same thing, and that sent a frisson of excitement all the way down his spine.

They broke a few moments later, and Stephanie told him through heavy breaths: "Okay, now listen very closely. I want you to take me, and take me _hard_." She kissed him again.

"Mm-mm," he mumbled while her lips were against his. "We should do this right. Candlelit dinner, bottle of wine..."

"I hate candles," she protested, moving her attention to his neck. "And I'm not old enough for wine." She looked him in the eyes. "But I _am_ old enough for this. So please, Jason Todd. Please lay me down on that bed and fuck the living daylights out of me."

There was nothing he wanted more in the world right now than to oblige her. Kissing her passionately, he lifted her up and carried her over to the bed to give her what she had made absolutely clear that she desired. She landed hard on the mattress, and he knelt on the floor, then grabbed her thighs and tugged them over his shoulders. He pulled up the shirt to reveal the part of her that desired attention, and dove right in.

"Gnnnnaaaaaaaahhhh," Stephanie groaned, shuddering as he sought out her clit with perfect precision. He flicked his tongue back and forth ravenously, like a lion devouring its prey. He discovered what she wanted through a language of grunts and moans, and her legs pressed hard against his back to signal her pleasure.

He worked his way deeper, bringing up one of his hands and slipping his middle and ring fingers inside her, where he proceeded to pump back and forth in a way that elicited all sorts of happy squeaks. The more he worked on her, however, the more he noticed she was clearly holding back her desire to shout to the heavens, if the expression on her face was anything to go by.

"I don't exactly have neighbors," he told her as he bent his fingers in a 'come hither' motion, which made her come hither pretty hard. "Be as loud as you want."

"Oh my Ggggoooooooddd, keep _doing _that!" she bellowed, and he acquiesced, curling his fingers again. She bucked her hips in the air, nearly hitting him in the face. He began pumping back and forth again, rubbing her clit with his thumb and occasionally letting his tongue join the party. He worked over her for several minutes, eventually wringing an orgasm from her, and she howled in pleasure as she clutched the sheets and squeezed his head between her thighs.

When it was over, she exhaled with satisfaction. "Okay wow, it has been _way_ too long since someone made me feel like that." She breathed again. "Actually I don't think I've _ever_ felt like that."

"Glad I could help," he replied with a smirk, standing up.

"How long has it been for _you_?" she inquired, eyeing him hungrily.

He tried to remember. "Way, _way_ too long," he answered eventually.

"Then allow me to return the favor," she offered, stripping off the shirt and allowing him to see her completely bare for the first time.

She had more scars than he expected. Nobody in their line of work escaped completely unscathed, but she had collected almost as many as he had. There was a little fat hanging around her belly, but most of her body was made of the kind of hard muscle that came from night after night of jumping across rooftops. In his opinion, she looked absolutely beautiful.

"Hey. Off with the pants," she ordered, and he blinked when he realized that he had been staring at her for a minute too long. He obeyed, and her eyes gleamed with desire when he stripped off his boxers. "_Wow_."

"I take it you like?" he asked, raising his arms out to his sides and tossing the boxers across the room.

Steph nodded vigorously. "Switch places," she told him, standing up. He sat on the bed, and she got down on her knees.

"You ever done this before?" he panted.

"I've eaten a hot dog or two," she remarked, grinning. Before he could raise his concerns with that statement, she gripped him with her right hand and pumped hard, and all was forgotten. "But hey, if you're the expert, tell me what to do."

"That," was all he could manage to say. "Keep doing that."

She pumped her hand up and down quickly, and he laid down flat on his back. For a beginner, she was not bad, especially when her touch electrified him as much as it did. He had stamina, but at the rate she was jerking him he might end up coming a lot sooner than he intended.

"Slower," he requested, and she acquiesced. "Now spit on it."

Steph quirked an eyebrow. "Say what?"

"I said spit on it," he repeated. "Get it nice and wet."

She retained her quizzical expression but hocked one all the same in the least sexy manner possible, which just made it all the more attractive. "That's right. Just like that." She started speeding up again and he waved his hand. "Don't take me all the way just yet. We're just getting started."

"Understood," she replied, pumping at a slow but steady rate. "Anything else?"

"Twist your wrist back and forth," he suggested, and she did so. "Ohhhh, yes, just like that."

She kept this up for another minute or so before slowly, carefully lowering her lips down to engulf him. As her mouth slid over his penis, Jason released a long, lusty sigh that he had no idea was inside him. "Oh, yyyyeessss, keep that up. Use your tongue."

Steph obeyed, running her tongue along the underside of his cock on the way up before plunging back down and doing it again. She did not go very deep, since she lacked the experience and the gag reflex, but she made up for her lack of skill with enthusiasm and the fact that he was very, very attracted to her.

"Ggggguuuuhhh," he groaned wordlessly as she continued her ministrations. "Okay, stop, stop."

She stopped. "What? Why?"

"Because," he explained between heavy breaths. "I am about to blow like a teapot. And I'd prefer to go a little longer before that happens." She let go of him, and he sat up. "Can you see my pants?"

Stephanie nodded.

"Reach in the back pocket and grab my wallet. There's a roll of condoms inside."

"Good idea," she replied, standing up to do as she was requested. She tore off one of the condoms and tossed it to him.

He ripped it open with his teeth, then pulled it over the top of his penis. It made him less sensitive, sure, but that meant that he could last longer, and he wanted to be as safe as possible. No sense in having the rest of the Bat family come after him because he got her pregnant. She probably would not appreciate that too much either.

"Hey, thanks for walking me through that," she said as she sat down next to him. "It's... been a while since I last had sex and I've never really done that before."

"No problem," he replied. "How long, exactly?"

"Since I got pregnant, honestly," she told him. "And that was before Tim."

"So you never did it with...?"

Steph shook her head. "Nope."

"Good," he replied, grinning. "That means finally have something to hold over his head." Before she could voice any objections, he leaned over and kissed her.

She giggled, then climbed on top of his lap and grabbed his cock in a firm grip. He was about to tell her to slide it in gently when she plunged down on top of it, engulfing him in one smooth motion.

"Nnngh!" she grunted, then began to thrust her hips up and down, pushing on his chest so that he was lying flat on the bed once more. After she had proven to him that she was anything but fragile, he grabbed her by the hips and began thrusting upward in time with her downward movements, and the smile on her face grew wider.

Jason was beginning to wonder how little Timmy would have ever survived if he and Steph had consummated their relationship. _He _could barely handle the woman she had suddenly turned into. Stephanie Brown was a firecracker when she wanted to be, and she kept finding new ways to dispel all his preconceived notions about her.

He was beginning to think she had no surprises left when she began gyrating her hips in a circle, spinning his penis around like a joystick. That settled it. She had to have watched porn at least once in her life.

Suddenly she started bouncing up and down faster. "This," she explained between breaths, "isn't my first rodeo, cowboy. You don't... need to worry about... breaking me."

Okay, maybe more than once. Who was this woman and where had she been all his life?

Grunting savagely, Jason stood up with her still attached and rammed her up against the opposite wall, taking care not to hit her head against it too hard. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he proceeded to thrust into her with a ferocity that he usually reserved for killing sprees. She bit into his neck and left shallow scars along his back with her nails, which only motivated him to pound her harder.

"Yes!" she shrieked into his ears. "Keep doing that! Keep pounding me like that! Yes, yes, yes, yes AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" She slammed her head into the wall as she surrendered to the orgasm, riding it hard. "Keep going!"

As if he wanted to do anything else.

Any further shouts were lost against his lips as he pressed them over hers. They made out sloppily while he continued to thrust. He felt the wall starting to crack, so he turned her around and set her back on the bed without ever separating.

He spread her legs apart and thrust deeper, pounding her into the mattress. She wailed long and hard, and before long he felt himself succumbing. He let out a long, savage howl as he released everything into her, halted only by the condom. All the pain, all the rage, all the frustration he had been feeling seemed to flow out of him, and for a few fleeting moments, Jason felt content.

Then he felt empty and vacant, and he crashed into her, sighing as he broke against her shore. He would not allow himself to dip so low as to cry after sex, but he surrendered himself to her all the same, and she held him tight as he slowly filled himself up again.

Eventually he pulled out of her and rolled over, pulling off the condom and tossing it on the floor.

"..._Fuck_," Stephanie breathed after a few moments.

"Yeah," he panted in agreement.

"I feel like I need a cigarette," she confessed. "And I don't even _smoke_."

"That was good, then?"

"It was _amazing_," she replied, pressing herself against him. "But that was just the warm-up round. Next time we shoot for thirty minutes."

"Next time?"

"Oh come on. You _cannot_ be that passionate and not have a second round in you."

"I do," he insisted, finally getting his breath back. "Just give me a few minutes."

* * *

"If I can't walk right today I'm blaming you," Stephanie informed him as they loaded the groceries into Jason's black '67 Chevy Impala. They had kept fucking until they ran out of condoms the night before, which at least gave her a means of counting since it all started to blur together after a while. Today she felt sorer between her legs than that time she'd landed on one of the parallel bars in the Batcave. The rest of her felt blissful and relaxed, though, so it was worth it.

Jason laughed and hopped in the driver's seat, while she entered via the other door. He started the car and headed in the direction of her house, which he thankfully had not already known the location of. "As I recall, you're the one who wanted me to 'stab you with my pork sword,'" he rebutted, making air quotes with one hand.

She smacked his shoulder. "That was said in the heat of the moment, so don't hold it against me," she riposted. "And you totally cried after the third time so we're even."

"I had something in my eyes," he protested as he turned the corner.

"Yeah, _tears_," she fired back. "My shoulder got wet and everything."

"You can prove nothing."

"Next time I'm filming it," she threatened.

He chuckled. "You realize that any evidence might prevent this from becoming a regular thing," he said. "Especially since you _know_ Oracle's bound to get her hands on that video eventually."

Stephanie shrugged. "It's a risk I'm willing to take."

The remaining few minutes of the drive passed in comfortable silence, with the occasional random topic like how the clouds had cleared away since last night or what Stephanie had been learning in school. After a short while they arrived about a block from her house.

"Better stop here," she suggested, and he obeyed. She gathered the groceries in her hands and smiled. "I had... an amazing time last night," she confessed, smiling. "Even though it was the last thing I expected. So, thank you for that."

"Hey if you ever wanna do it again, you know where to find me," he told her.

She grinned. "I'd give you a goodbye kiss, but I swear Oracle's got eyes and ears _everywhere_," she told him. "Till next time, okay?"

Jason smiled as well. "Till next time," he echoed, then drove off.

As she watched him go, Stephanie's heart bloomed inside of her and she felt lighter than air. She practically skipped back to her house, taking care not to jostle the groceries, a wide smile on her face the whole time. After everything she had been through in the last year, a relationship was the furthest thing from her mind, but a wild night of animal passion had turned out to be just what she needed.

And if she ever needed it again, well, like Jason had said: she knew where to find him.


End file.
